New Mexico governor apologizes after police were called over rowdy staff party

New Mexico governor Susanna Martinez apologized Saturday for her behavior and that of some her staffers at a boisterous holiday party at a high-end Santa Fe hotel that led to a call to the police. “I want to apologize for the conduct of my staff on the night of our holiday party,” Martinez told the Albuquerque Journal. “There apparently was a party in a hotel room earlier in the night that was disruptive. New Mexico’s governor apologized Friday for her late-night call to cops in which she defended her staff’s wild holiday antics as an innocent pizza party. Susana Martinez (R) was forced to apologize on Friday after audio surfaced of her admonishing police officers who tried to disband a hotel party she was attending. The Republican governor told the paper she might discipline the staffers involved in the incident, but she didn’t provide any details about what disciplinary measures she may take.

Susana Martinez phoned police early Sunday morning demanding dispatch “call off” the cops who responded to a noise complaint at Santa Fe’s Eldorado Hotel & Spa, where the governor was hosting her staff’s holiday party. “We are eating pizza and drinking Cokes,” Martinez said in the call, which was released by authorities. “I’m the Governor of the State of New Mexico, and we are in there with my sister, who’s disabled, along with about six other people, who are having pizza.” Martinez later claimed she was not among the staffers whose wild antics, which included hurling items off a balcony, prompted the noise complaint. Three audio recordings obtained by several local media outlets feature staff at the El Dorado Hotel in Santa Fe, New Mexico, calling police in the early hours of Dec. 13 to ask them to kick noisy people off the hotel premises after complaints from other hotel guests. “We have guests that have been partying in their room,” Shelly Garcia at the El Dorado front desk told the Santa Fe police dispatcher. “They’ve been warned already and they are still not quieting down.” A slurry-sounding Martinez can be heard on the second recording repeatedly pestering Garcia to tell her who had complained — or at least say what room they were in. Martinez learned about the complaints and then went downstairs to assure hotel staff that those who caused the disturbance had left long ago, Sanchez said. They still haven’t calmed down and they were told to leave,” said the woman at the front desk, who then asked the officers to escort the revelers off the property.

The audio recordings of the governor’s discussion with Santa Fe County dispatchers were released Friday and posted online by media outlets, bloggers and her political opponents. ProgressNow New Mexico spokesman Pat Davis told Fox News: ‘We can listen as an obviously drunk Susana Martinez spends six minutes on berating public safety workers trying to keep the peace.’ The nation’s only Latina governor, Martinez was recently elected chair of the Republican Governors Association. And that behavior is not acceptable.” “I also want to admit that I made a mistake when I went to speak to the receptionist and asked her about the complaint. I should not have gotten involved in trying to resolve the situation, nor should I have spoken to the dispatcher on the phone.” Martinez added. “Ultimately, the situation was under control, but it should have been handled much differently and I am responsible for that.” In 2014, she was elected to a second term as governor by a wide margin.

As for the allegation that bottles were thrown from the balcony, she responded that no one is throwing bottles off the balcony “and if there were, it was about six hours ago.”